Quick Hits (and Misses): Colts @ Jaguars

In case you weren’t aware, not only do we have a Thursday game this week, but we also have a Saturday game now that college football is coming to an end. I’ll get to my official HIts and Misses post at some point over the next day or so, but I wanted to get started with the game tonight, which features a few players that could hurt/help your chances at winning that Championship (or third place game) this week (or next week) as the Indianapolis Colts head to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars, so here we go…

Hits

Peyton Manning, QB, Colts: To date, the Jaguars have given up 22 passing touchdowns, which ties them as the fourth worst team in the NFL in that area. Peyton Manning, on the other hand, is tied for 6th in the league with 23 passing touchdowns. Sounds like a pretty good match-up to me! With the game in Jacksonville, you won’t have to worry about bad weather screwing anything up (unlike what Kurt Warner and Matt Cassel owners should be worrying about this Sunday.)

Reggie Wayne, WR, Colts: With his quarterback a near lock to throw a couple of touchdowns tonight, expect Wayne to catch one of them to go along with around 80-100 yards or so.

Maurice Jones-Drew, RB, Jaguars: While the Indianapolis defense is tough against the pass (see David Garrard below), they’re not so great against the run. With Fred Taylor out of the picture, MJD will get plenty of carries against a Colts team that is allowing 127 rushing yards per game (4.2 ypc) and has given up 16 touchdowns to tailbacks so far this year. Expect a solid effort from the little man, especially if he gets heavily involved in the passing game like he’s been the past few games.

Misses

David Garrard, QB, Jaguars: The Colts defense is 7th in the league against the pass, allowing just over 190 yards per game to opposing signal callers. They’ve also only allowed a league best five scores all year to quarterbacks. Garrard is having an off year to begin with and a match-up with one of the better defensive units in the league is probably not what you want from your quarterback in the championship game.

Dennis Nortcutt, WR, Jaguars: Northcutt had a big game last week when he was given the opportunity to start, but that was against a less-than-average Green Bay defense. With his quarterback struggling tonight, keep him on your bench if possible.

In the fantasy championship this week, and I need some advice.
If D. Foster is declared the starter against St. Louis, do I consider benching S. Slaton/T. Jones/D. Williamas? I also have S. Morris sitting on my bench, who could get many carriers in the snow.
Speaking of the snow, do I go with the NE or CLE defense ?
Thnaks!

@JT: First of all, I can’t advise you bench DeAngelo Williams for anyone at this point. Steve Slaton is playing a terrible Raiders run defense, so keep him in, while T.Jones plays the Seahawks, who aren’t anything special. Keep your three guys (Slaton, Jones, Williams) in there.

As for your defense, I’d recommend playing the Patriots. If it gets sloppy in Foxboro (we have over an inch of snow in Connecticut today already!), the Cardinals could be forced to run and it could get ugly for them…but would be big for the Patriots defense. Hope this helps!

@JT: Yeah DeAngelo Williams went off huh?! I’m not sure what either the Texans or Jets were trying to do on Sunday, but it just wasn’t working for them. The Patriots almost pitched the shutout, but that garbage time touchdown probably took a few points from you. See you next season!